The Washington Post has joined human rights advocates in condemning the Biden administration’s argument that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has immunity from a lawsuit filed against him over the 2018 killing of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The latest: Fred Ryan, Post publisher and CEO, said in a statement Friday that President Biden is “giving a license to kill one of the world’s most egregious human rights abusers who is responsible for the cold-blooded murder of Jamal Khashoggi . .”
“While legitimate heads of government should be protected from frivolous lawsuits, the Saudi decision to make MBS prime minister was a cynical, calculated attempt to manipulate the law and shield him from accountability,” Ryan added, referring to the widely known prince. as MBS. “By pursuing this plan, President Biden is turning his back on the fundamental principles of press freedom and equality.”
Leading the story: The Biden administration’s statement came in a court filing in a lawsuit filed by the journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who also criticized the action, and the rights group founded by Khashoggi, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN ). Photo: Hatice Cengiz/Twitter Details: A State Department spokesman said in an emailed statement that the Justice Department made the “immunity proposal,” at the State Department’s request, “based on long-standing and well-established principles” of law.
That includes customary international law, “which the United States applies consistently and across administrations to heads of state, heads of government and secretaries of state while in office,” the spokesman said. “This offer of immunity does not reflect an assessment of the merits of the case. It does not speak to the broader policy or state of relations. This was purely a legal determination.”
What they’re saying: Cengiz tweeted that the immunity offer was “not a decision that everyone expected.”
“We thought maybe there would be some light on justice from the #USA, but again, money came first,” he added. “This is a world that Jamal doesn’t know and I..!” “It is beyond ironic that President Biden single-handedly assured MBS that he can avoid accountability when President Biden promised the American people that he would do everything in his power to hold him accountable,” she noted in a statement. Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of DAWN. “Not even the Trump administration did that.”
The big picture: Biden was criticized for sharing a fistfight with the prince after he arrived in the Gulf kingdom in July.
US officials found last year that MBS had approved the 2018 assassination of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. MBS denied ordering the killing of the dissident Saudi journalist, but said he accepted “responsibility” because “it happened under my watch.”
What’s next: A judge will decide whether to grant immunity to the prince, as the Biden administration’s proposal is not binding, according to the AP. Go deeper: Biden says he raised Khashoggi killing with Saudi crown prince Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from the Washington Post publisher and managing director.
